Nick Clegg would form a coalition with Ed Miliband in the next government, he told The People.

The Lib Dem leader could even stay on as Deputy PM if a general election ­replaced one governing party with another.

His new boss would then be Labour’s Ed. And former Prime Minister David Cameron could be facing him across the House – heading the Opposition.

I visited Mr Clegg in his Cabinet office in Whitehall and he told me: “If the British ­people, like they did last time, say no one lot has won, then I’ll be open to ­working with other parties.”

So, I asked him, if Labour win the most seats can he do business with Miliband?

“Yes,” he said, without much hesitation.

“If the British people said that the only ­combination which could work would be those two parties, in the same way as after the last election the only combination which could work was Conservatives and Liberal Democrats, it would be obvious that Liberal Democrats would need to do their duty.”

After the last election Lib Dems in general and Business Secretary Vince Cable in ­particular were keen to explore a ­coalition in a historic Lib-Lab pact.

I suggested to Mr Clegg he could never have got on with grumpy Gordon Brown.

He shrugged and said: “We did the maths and there wasn’t a majority so it would have been useless. You’d have been in power but not in charge.”

In the future could there be ­problems working ­under rookie PM Miliband?

Mr Clegg said: “I will never bring personal likes and dislikes into it. I would treat anyone I work with in ­government with ­respect even if I don’t agree with them.”

He knows his party’s ­image has suffered in ­alliance with the Tories and is keen to get his ­message across.

Mr Clegg said: “In 2015 I want people to think we did not just get them through the worst but that we created a better economy and a fairer ­society.

"Repairing the British economy takes a huge amount of time and energy. It’s not just putting Humpty Dumpty back together but to fix it on a better basis.”

Among the Lib Dems’ ­achievements in government he included putting the brakes on the Tories’ worst ideas, especially those of Education Secretary Michael Gove.

And Mr Clegg said they are on course to deliver the Lib Dem promise of making the first £10,000 of everyone’s income tax free – worth £500 a year to a ­basic rate taxpayer.

It will take 2.5million of the ­poorest people out of tax.

On Monday, Mr Clegg will visit one of the 2,000 ­summer schools he set up to help ­children aged 11 from ­deprived ­families cope with the leap to secondary school. He calls it “extra brain training”.

He is the architect of the pupil premium, which gives head teachers money to take on disadvantaged children.

Mr Gove’s free schools will not be allowed to put profit before ­academic standards.

And Mr Clegg is ­fighting the Gove plan to end GCSEs, saying it was a return to a system “where ­children at quite a young age are cast on a scrapheap”.

A recommendation by Tory donor Adrian Beecroft that bosses should be allowed to fire staff without a reason was binned.

Mr Clegg said: “When people are unsure about their jobs and worried about the future you’re not going to help the economy by ­making them more unsure.

“The good thing about coalition ­government is you have to challenge each other’s ideas. And if two ­different parties support an idea then it’s worth pursuing.

“At its best a coalition should be ­positive. It says we may not agree on some things but in power we’ll try to do things for the ­benefit of everyone.”